Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Alford to Indiana? Iowa Fans Apathetic?

Born and raised in Iowa, I have been a Hawkeye fan since I knew sports existed.I eat, sleep, and breathe Hawkeye sports.

Luke Winn's perception of Iowa fans' attitude towards Alford is not as accurate as he might think (His article can be foundHERE.) While there are fans who would welcome the thought of Alford leaving Iowa, there are other fans that would rather see him stick around.Usually the disgruntled fans are the most vocal, thus he received more e-mails from con-Alford fans.

While I have never been a huge Alford fan, I do think that he needs to stay at Iowa.We have been paying Alford for his on-the-job training the past seven years.He has become a better coach throughout his tenure at Iowa, and to release him now would mean Iowa threw the last seven years' worth of salary down the drain.

Alford has had his fill of unfortunate events happen to him, some preventable – some unforeseen.I believe Alford is developing into a top notch D-1 coach.It is regrettable that it took him 5 or 6 years to get to that point, but he is finally getting there.For the Hawkeyes to roll over and let him leave would mean the last seven years were a waste.I, for one, didn’t go through the pain and strife of those previous seasons to come up empty-handed.We put up with Alford’s learning curve, and now should be able to reap the benefits.Allowing Alford to leave would be a slap in the face.